Your Portland & Vancouver IT Information Source

After reading this, you will wonder why you didn’t listen to the title in the first place. Adobe Flash is needed on all computers that are connected to the Internet. It provides browsers with the ability to view multimedia, run amazing applications, and stream video and audio.

It’s about time Mac came out with something new that would make our work lives easier. The tabbed appearance has finally made it to the Mac version of Outlook, Office 365 edition.

It’s in Your Face

Stop fiddling with the traditional Mac menus and get onboard with tabbed computing.

Businesses are dedicating more and more of their budgets to IT expenses. With 2015 approaching, you may be wondering how much of your budget should go towards improving your tech infrastructure. And once you’ve figured out how much you can spend on IT, you’ll have to decide how much to invest in each specific area (security, cloud computing, etc.

Microsoft is constantly rolling out updates and innovative new features for its programs and services. For most busy business professionals, it’s hard to keep track of the latest changes; so let’s go over some of the major updates and features that have been released over the past couple months:

Windows 8.1:

August 12th: Microsoft released an update to its Windows 8 operating system.

Microsoft has been changing the way businesses operate, and it’s all because of the amazing programs in the Office 365 Suite. Not only do you have more desktop publishing, document, presentation and spreadsheet services, but you also have the ability to connect with more clients around the world.

How closely do you guard your passwords? Probably pretty well, most of them are likely stored in a little notebook by your desk, or in an encrypted storage program, or even just kept up in a mental rolodex. We’re coming to an understanding that in the digital age the password can be the keys to the kingdom, and we guard those secrets carefully.

A recent vulnerability impacting Microsoft servers could allow hackers to gain domain user account privileges and compromise any computer in the domain! The hacker can essentially impersonate the domain administrator to:

Install malicious programs
View, change, or delete data
Create new accounts

Microsoft is aware of limited attacks that have attempted to exploit this vulnerability, and as a result, a security update has been released – rated critical for the following supported editions of:

Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2008
Windows Server 2008 R2
Windows Server 2012
Windows Server 2012 R2

In addition, the security update is also released on an optional, defense-in-depth basis for all supported editions of:

Windows Vista
Windows 7
Windows 8
Windows 8.1

Don’t put your sensitive information at risk.

Along with all of its impressive features and capabilities, the Internet also presents a huge security risk. Odds are, you do your banking online, you shop online, and you spend time on social media. With all of this information about you floating around cyberspace, there is good reason to worry about tech-savvy cybercriminals being able to access this information and open a credit line under your name or otherwise exploit your personal info.

A few months ago Heartbleed, apparently named after a James Bond villain, was a security bug that made headlines even in major, non-tech focused publications. This well-known bug was a flaw in the OpenSSL cryptography library, which is a layer of security between your computer and the servers of many major online services.

Microsoft Office is changing for the better. It has been revolutionized and helps you create the best looking documents, spreadsheets, presentations and advertisements for your business. Microsoft is stepping up and has gone above and beyond your expectations.